A Good Minnesotan With A Gun

This page will track mass shootings stopped by citizens with firearms other, generally, than the police.

Got any candidates for inclusion on this page? Leave them in the comment section. Comments will be removed if off-topic, and when I’ve decided if the episodes should be included or not.

Fridley, MN – 2/14/2018 – Immediately after a four-car accident on Central Avenue in Fridley, a man – Simon Schiffler – got out of the car, groped a woman, and then tried to stab a man through his driver’s side window with a knife. Another motorist – with a carry permit and a handgun – intervened. When Shiffler charged him with the knife, the motorist fired, mortally wounding the attacker. In May, the Anoka county attorney declined to press charges, noting that it looked like self-defense.

Inver Grove Heights, MN – 8/17/17 – A clerk at a Verizon store in Inver Grove shot an armed robber. The clerk had a carry permit. The robber survived, wounded. The IGH cops may not say as much, but the clerk is a hero.

Brooklyn Center, MN, 3/12/2016 – 17 year old Gary Lamar Townsend, with an accomplice, apparently got into an argument with another fellow in line outside a Foot Locker. The argument ended with Townsend shooting the man twice. A carry permittee then hit Townsend, wounding him and sending the two assailants fleeting. No charges.

Brooklyn Park, MN, 2/23/2016 – A would-be robber ran up against a citizen with a carry permit. Both men opened fire. The robber died. Happy ending.

Saint Paul, MN, 7/31/2015 – Using a couple of stolen guns, 16 year old Lavauntai Broadbent and a small group of accomplices tried to hold up a man on East River Road in Saint Paul. The man – a carry permittee – shot back, killing Broadbent. The shooting was quickly ruled justified – much to the dismay of much of the neighborhood, who’d rather see people get robbed without protest.

Minneapolis, 2011 – Darren Evanovich and his sister attempted to rob a Latina cleaning woman in the parking lot of the East Lake Street Cub Foods in Minneapolis. A good samaritan attempted to get the purse back – and Evanovich drea a gun. The samaritan shot first. Evanovich’s family tried to make it a racial incicent – until it came out that the family was basically a criminal enterprise. The Henco attorney declined to press charges, and all but called the shooter a hero.